Neverland, Sometimes
by PassionateSoul
Summary: When Natalie decides to run away to Neverland, she never expected to get there. Not only that, a fierce love is waiting for her on the high seas by the name of Captain James Hook...
1. Chapter 1

When Natalie decides to run away to Neverland, she never expected to get there. Not only that, a fierce love is waiting for her on the high seas by the name of Captain James Hook...

Natalie was reading a large white book titled _Good Faeries/Bad Faeries_ near her home, a gorgeous, cozy little cottage just feet away from the edge of the cliff where she sat reading. Small salty droplets, carried high above the sea by a summer breeze, cooled Natalie as the the mild summer sun kissed the top of her wavy dark hair. From the cottage door she heard a shrill voice carried by the salty breeze.

"Natalie! Come in here and clean the kitchen!" Her mother, Sarah yelled. Natalie sighed and turned the page of her book. A gruesome leaf man stared at her with coal-black eyes. _**'Barca the Snagger:' **_She read._ 'A particularly troublesome faery, the __**Snagger**__ is dangerous to travelers, ripping and tearing their clothes. The classic way to banish the __**Snagger**__ is-'_

"Natalie! Get in here! Now!" Sarah yelled again. Natalie rubbed her eyes and snapped the book closed, only to flip it over and open it again.

"_**Guardian of the Sword:" She**_ continued reading, talking out loud.

_"'The faery guardian waits, holding her potent sword in readiness. She waits... ready to transfer her spiritual power to one who is worthy." _She read, tracing the picture of a fierce blond woman in an intricate mask and glowing sword.

"I wish I was worthy..." She sighed and snapped her book shut. She gazed out onto the sea, playful briny waves leaped high, aided by the salty wind. Natalie wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a giant, glittering fishtail in the waves. She smiled, standing up and heading to her house.

"Hi momma." She announced, rolling up her sleeves at the sight of a sink full of soapy dishes.

"Why didn't you come when I called you?" Sarah asked, brushing the faint wisps of curly black hair out of her face.

"Looking for mermaids." Natalie mumbled, sinking her hands into the steamy water.

"Of course, honey. I just don't like it when you sit on that cliff. You could fall." She scolded. Natalie sighed, but said nothing. She hated when Sarah babied her. It wasn't her fault really. Sarah just thought Natalie was mentally retarded. Everyone did. When she was younger, Natalie had decided that, when her father left and the custody battle nearly destroyed the family, she would think of a way to stay with Sarah. If she had a disability then she would be with the one who could provide her with a steady living environment. So she played the girl who couldn't tell reality from fantasy. Some people called it "autism". Now she was tired of the act she had kept up for five years.

"Your father called to say that court is next week." Sarah was saying, puttering around putting food away. "He also says he misses you."

"Goblins have no feelings." Natalie said, stacking the plates.

"Although I'd like to agree with you, Marcus is not a goblin. He's your father and he does miss you." Natalie shrugged, scratching her arm nervously. She finished the dishes without another word and wandered to her room to flop down on her bed. It didn't really matter if her father missed her. She didn't want to change schools every time her father got bored with a town or city. Maybe it would be better if she wasn't around. She sighed and looked out the window. A sliver of moon shone down and illuminated the half-moon of beach. She imagined a magnificent three-sailed ship landing there to take her away. The captain would be handsome and chivalrous. She smiled thinking of the adventures they would have. Unknown to the dreaming girl, a small one-sail dinghy had just washed up on the beach.

***Three days later*---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Natalie was on the beach; she had been for the past two days, nailing drift wood to fix the hole in her dinghy. Her fingers were blistered and her left pinky nail was painfully purple, but she didn't care. This was her project.

"Natalie!" Sarah called. "Your father's here to see you." Natalie waved the hammer at Sarah, but didn't stop. Marcus walked down the hill leading to the beach. Natalie was always surprised about how different her parents were. Her father was tall, with overlong blond hair and the coldest, bluest eyes which were almost violet. Sarah was small, dumpy and her hair was a curly black, with emotional taffy brown eyes. Unlike her older sister, Natalie got the better parts from both; Wavy black hair (that she had hacked to chin length), tall and big curves. Right now, Marcus was dressed in a dark grey suit, smoking a cigarette.

"How's my fey child?" he asked, tossing the used bud into the waves. It was his old nickname for her because she had one blue eye and one green.

"I'm going on a voyage to find myself." She said, scrounging for a nail she dropped. "I inquire of your young charge."

"Maria's in the house, catching up with your mother." He leaned against the side of the dinghy. "We talked about you staying with me next year, for school-"

"I love the sea and the sea loves me. We cannot be parted." She snapped, reaching for another plank of wood. Her father groaned and pulled out another cigarette.

"It's just an idea." he said, lighting it. "Your mom doesn't like it either."

"Great minds think alike." Natalie muttered, smashing the last nail in place. She reached for a thick, rough square of cloth and started tying it to the rigging of the mast. Once she was done, she nodded at it and leaped out of the boat, heading back to the cottage. Marcus followed

"I want you to think about it. You don't have to let Sarah make all your life decisions." Natalie stared at the cloudless blue sky in contemplation.

"I think I'll sail tonight." She murmured to herself, biting her bruised pinky nail. Marcus noticed the ugly purple color.

"What happened to your finger?" her father demanded, trying to grab her hand. She shrieked and slapped him, running to the cottage. When she burst into the kitchen, her mother was sitting at the table with Natalie's seventeen-year-old sister. Natalie heard her father's hurried steps and hid in the pantry.

"Marcus, what's wrong?" Sarah asked.

"Natalie slapped me!" he shouted, gesturing to the partially-open pantry door.

"Why?" Maria asked.

"I saw how purple her pinky was, so I wanted to check it out." he huffed. Sarah sighed and went to the pantry.

"Natty? Natalie, come out here." Natalie peeked over the door, caught sight of Marcus, and then dove back in.

"He's gonna make it hurt!" She whined.

"Natalie, he won't hurt you." Maria scoffed. Sarah glared at her.

"Maria, you're not helping."

"He won't! Honestly, you two baby her too much." Maria shoved the pantry door open and dragged Natalie out. Natalie screamed and bit Maria's hand. "Ouch! You little brat-!" Maria smacked Natalie hard. She screamed louder and ran to her room, slamming the door. She could hear the muffled sounds of her family yelling at each other. Natalie groaned and started packing. Her ship was done and she could leave now. She wasn't kidding when she told her father she was going on a voyage, and her mother knew Natalie wouldn't come out of her room when she was upset. Quickly she shoved a change of clothes in her knapsack with three bottles of water, a bag of tortillas, her notebook, her pencil box, a book of poems and her mp3 player. She left her cell phone (which she never used) on her nightstand with a small goodbye note.

_**I'm off to Neverland. I shall return.**_

_**Natalie**_

Once she double checked to see if she had everything, she wrapped her copy of _Good Faeries/Bad Faeries_ in a piece of oilcloth and tying it up with a piece of twine and rummaged through her jewelry box until she found her locket with the pictures of her mother and father. Now all she had to do was wait for her father and sister to leave.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was midnight when she decided to leave. The light of an almost full moon lit the path to the beach as she climbed out of her window. She breathed in the briny sea air. _"The smell of freedom."_ she thought, hiking her knapsack higher and walking to her boat. A favorable breeze blew in from the mainland, almost as if it wanted Natalie to leave. She tossed her things into the boat and started pushing it in the sea. When the water was waist deep, she pulled herself inside and grabbed the oars. When she rowed far enough out, she opened her sail and let the wind pull her away from her old life.

Natalie was lost. She had consulted the nautical star map several times, but the constellations didn't make sense. She took a sip of water, and then scanned the sky. A bright star outshone the rest.

"It must be the north star." She muttered to herself, tweaking the sails in that direction. "I'll just sail a little to the right until morning." Making sure the rigging wouldn't slip, she made herself comfortable on deck and slept.

A giant clap of thunder jerked her awake. She sat up and looked at the sky. It was still dark, but the clouds were an angry grey as the wind whipped the waves into a fury. Quickly she scanned the horizon, checking to see if she could get to land before the worst of the storm could hit. But it was too late. Rain pelted down like hard bullets and blurred her vision as she tried to batten down the sails. She grimaced when the waves threatened to capsize her. Acting instinctively, she crouched down and dumped her knapsack out on deck. She sorted through her things, tossing her mp3 layer, her notebook and the tortillas; she wrapped the poem book in the plastic bag and shoved it and _Good faeries/Bad faeries _into the bag and slung it on her back. Another giant wave sent gallons of water into the boat and soaked her. A follow up wave managed to turn the boat over. She tried to surface, but her jeans were soaked and her knapsack was too heavy. Her sneakers were lost. She was running out of air. _"So this is how I die."_ She thought as she lost consciousness.

**An odd story my brain spit up after I watched _Peter Pan_. This chapter was really hard because I've been in a storm at sea and it's terrible. So anyway, enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Her head pounding, Natalie felt herself rise out of unconsciousness. Her mouth was dry and she couldn't see. She felt someone prop her neck up and the feel of the rim of a cup to her lips. She started to move away, and then realized it was just water. Greedily she started drinking while someone chuckled.

"There you are dearie. Best thing for you, right now." An old woman's voice cackled. Once she was satisfied, Natalie opened her eyes to see a robust woman in her forties with red hair tucking her in and wiping up the water she spilled.

"Mom?" She asked groggily. The woman laughed again.

"Bless me! No, dearie. I'm Maggie Dupree. Yeh lucky tae be alive, after a storm like that. Yeh lucky my son, Farrow was out tae see your boat crash into tha cove and save Ye." Natalie looked around to see it was an old one-room seafaring cottage, with a dirt floor and wooden walls.

"Where am I?" She asked hoarsely, feeling sleepy tears collect in the corners of her eyes.

"Oh, Port City, in Neverland." She said absently, stirring something in a pot on the fire.

"Yeah, right." Natalie said, rolling her eyes and sitting up.

"'Tis true, Dearie. Just because it's in a story book doesn't mean it's can't be true." Natalie leaned into the pillows.

"Really? Neverland?" She couldn't believe it. She actually made it to Neverland! "I have to see it myself." She said, trying to get up.

"Ye just survived the worst storm of tha year, and ye want tae go explore?" Maggie chuckled. "Ye must be suited tae this isle." she walked over to a chest in the corner and brought out a russet-coloured dress. "Ye'll need this, then." Natalie realized then that she was only in her underwear. She blushed and grabbed the dress.

"Where's my stuff?" She asked, slipping it on.

"Farrow put it under his bed." Maggie pointed under the bed Natalie had been on. She reached under and grabbed it. Everything was damp when she pulled it out.

"Yuck." She made a face when she pulled out the soggy remains of her notebook. "How long was I out?"

"About a week." Maggie said, pouring her a bowl of soup. Natalie ignored it, examining the plastic-wrapped poem book. It was still dry when she flipped through it. It landed on page 18. She laughed. "Ye can read?" Maggie set the bowl at the table. "Not many people around here can read." she smiled at Natalie and handed her some bread. Natalie thanked her and pulled out her _Good faeries/Bad faeries_ and unwrapped it. It, also, had not gotten wet.

"Thank goodness this didn't get wet." She sighed, taking a bite of the crumbly wheat bread.

"What is it?" Maggie asked, bending over to see. Natalie opened it to show her the faeries. It opened to show a picture of a shining, human-shaped light.

"It shows you all the different kinds of faeries there are." Suddenly, the cottage door opened to show a red-haired young man hauling a haversack.

"Ma, can ye give me some help!?" He yelled, forcing the sack through the narrow doorway.

'"Farrow! Show some manners! We have a young guest!" She scolded the man who was obviously her son. He glanced at Natalie.

"Manners won't get this in tha cellar!" He grumbled.

"If you say please, I'll help." Natalie said. Farrow glared at her.

"Please help me lift these bleedin' groceries!" He snapped. Natalie shook her head but helped him lift it into the cellar outside.

"Thank ye." he said, wiping his forehead. He smiled at her, and then his smile slipped as he stared at her.

"What?" She asked, puzzled. "Is there something on my face?" He shook his head.

"No. My name's Farrow." He held out his hand. She took it

"Nice. I'm Natalie." He grinned at her. The started to go back inside when Natalie gazed at the view. They were situated on the side of a mountain looking down at an old seafaring town. "It's right out of a history book!" She whispered, awed. Farrow shrugged.

"Not much, but its home." He sighed. Natalie started heading down. "Where ye goin?"

"Exploring!" She said, smiling at him. He sighed and followed. They wandered down a well-worn path to the fenced-in backyard of a three story building. "What's this place?" She asked

"A brothel." Farrow said, unlatching the gate.

"Like, concubines?"

"As in, whores."

"Oh," Sounds of smashing glass and hysterical laughter floated out of the dalapataded house. "Sounds fun." She said, reaching for the doorknob of the back door. Farrow grabbed her hand.

"A green girl like ye can't go and just walk into a place like that! 'Tis dangerous!" He yelled at her. She shrugged.

"I don't see why." she grumbled. he grabbed her arm and steered her to the front.

"Ye'll be much safer if ye are with me." He said, walkin down the street. Natalie wished she had a camera or something. this was better than any Rennisance fair she had ever been to. It was a bustling seafaring town with old wooden docks and dirt-packed streets.

"This is awesome!" She exclaimed, staring at the docked ships in facination. "Can we get on one of them?"

"Ye must be daft." He sighed. "Those be pirate ships. Only whores get on them." Natalie rolled her eyes.

"It seems like only ladies of the night get to have any fun." she muttered. Suddently, she had an idea. "You don't have enough room for me at your cottage, right?" He flushed in anger.

"We hae eno' for yu!" He yelled, his accent thickening. Natalie was unimpressed.

"I noticed you only have two beds. I apreciate what your mom and you have done, but i don't want to take up a lot of room. All i have to do is dress like a guy and I'll stay at the brothel." Farrow opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it.

"oh, all right. Lets go talk to Moanna. When we get there, stick close to me." Natalie secretly jumped for joy.

**Note: there is a piece missing from this chapter, and i am too lazy to rewrite it. forgive this tired writer. it really is tough to keep up with stories. please, no more death threats if i don't update soon. Moanna is the head "lady". She is actually very funny.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything**.

"I noticed you only have two beds. I appreciate what your mom and you have done, but I don't want to take up a lot of room. All I have to do is dress like a guy and I'll stay at the brothel." Farrow opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it.

"Oh, all right. Let's go talk to Joanna. When we get there, stick close to me." Natalie secretly jumped for joy. As they headed back for the "wench house", Natalie tried to think of a winning argument. The entered through the front, Farrow's arm around her. Sailors and ladies danced and whooped, everyone with varying degrees of drunkenness. He tapped the shoulder of a passing barmaid. "I need to talk to Joanna." He shouted over the din. The girl nodded and led the way through the rambunctious crowd. They were ushered into a dim, red-decore parlour. "Alrigh', yu stay here and i'll go talk to Joanna." Farrow said, walking onto a different room. Natalie felt like she would get the job, she just knew it.

* * *

"Tell us a story." Tony asked. Natalie stared at her the young boy with puzzled duo-colored eyes. She had worked for the brothel for three months straight. Her main job for living here was to babysit Joanna's twins: Teddy and Tony. She scratched her head and thought. "Please tell us a story." He looked at her with a pleading expression. She sighed.

"What would you like to hear?" Tony screwed his face up in concentration.

"Peter Pan!" He cried.

"I've already told it to you. You know the stories better that anyone!" He pouted.

"I want to hear a new story! Peter hasn't had a new story in ages!" Natalie sighed.

"How about I read _Twelfth Night_ to you?" He made a face.

"But that's Teddy's story! I want to hear my own story!" She sighed again and thought hard.

"What kind of story?"

"Whatever happened to Captain Hook?"

"Well..." Suddenly she had an idea. "Captain James Hook? The only one the Sea Cook was afraid of? He was swallowed by a crocodile, remember? But he didn't really die, you see. He was swallowed whole, so he was still alive. He lay in the belly of the beast for two days, waiting to be digested. But as he lay there, he thought of how lucky it was that the beast hadn't chewed him to bits, and that he never really got his revenge on Peter Pan. So, in a fit of passion, he gutted his way out of the crocodiles belly from the inside with his iron hook. He was alive to fight Pan another day. And so he's here in Neverland, planning on the best way to kill Peter." Tony gazed, wide-eyed in fear, gripping Natalie's hand tightly. She laughed at his frightened expression. "But not to worry, Peter Pan will always prevail against the evil pirate captain." She assured him. He smiled at her. "All right, there's your story. Go to sleep."

"But I'm not sleepy! And I wanted to stay up and play with Peter!"

"You have to go to sleep, or else I won't have time to read to Teddy before I go to bed." Natalie said, tucking him in. Tony pouted. "Bad boys don't get to see Peter." She warned. He huffed and flopped down on his pillow.

"All right. Peter will be very disappointed."

"Well he'll have to be disappointed."

"He wanted you to be his mother." She smiled at him and kissed him goodnight.

"Go to sleep, you little flatterer." He turned over and closed his eyes. She sat there for a few minutes to make sure he was asleep, then stood up and walked to his brother Teddy's room.

"I thought you'd never finish with Tony!" Teddy said crossly. Unlike his twin, Teddy had no patience for fairy tales or make-believe, even though they lived in Neverland. "We were on act three." He said handing her a small blue book. She smiled and started reading.

_"**Act three: [Enter Viola and Clown] Viola: Save thee, friend and thy music. Dost thou live by thy tabor? Clown: No, sir, I live by the church.**"_...

Hook stared, contemplating at the cup of rum Smee had poured him.

"Are you all right, Captain?" Smee asked.

"I come back from being eaten alive and you ask me if I'm all right?" He whispered, an undercurrent of malice in his voice. Smee shook his head, retreating quickly.

"Of course, Captain. Stupid question. I'll leave you to your thoughts." Hook was left alone, thinking of his narrow escape from death, but of the voice he heard that saved him. A girl's voice, reminding him of who he was, giving him the will to cut himself out of that dreadful overgrown lizard. A gypsy's voice, smoky and gentle, which flowed over him like syrup. He leaned back in his chair, imagining a face to go with that soothing voice, but none of them seemed to fit.

"An enchantress's spell..." He muttered, digging his hook into the desk. A low husky murmur drifted through his mind.

"**_By innocence I swear and by my youth, I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth..._**_" _he sighed, drowsy from his ordeal. _After Pan is dead, I must find my charming spell caster._ With images of Pan's blood staining his hook and a beautiful girl whispering stories to him, he fell into a deep sleep.

"I'm off to get some groceries!" Natalie called into the house, grabbing her basket. She straightened the vest she wore over her sailor shirt. Weeks of hard labor and watching over two rambunctious three-year-olds had thinned her down tremendously. She glanced at her list on the way to the door.

"Nattie!" Tony cried, running through the hallway toward her. He jumped and landed in her arms. She laughed at the boy's energy.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"Can I come?" He gazed at her with big brown eyes pleadingly. She smiled and rolled her eyes

"What a persuader you are! All right, get your coat and remember: its Nate, not Nattie, got it?" Nodding enthusiastically, he jumped down and rushed to put on his tattered grey coat. "Right. Come on, then." As they wandered the market, the familiar hustle and bustle were interrupted by the frightened panic of unknown fear.

"What is _with_ everyone today?" Natalie muttered. Suddenly, Tony stopped and pointed.

"Look!" he cried. Her eyes followed where he was pointing to see a gilded black ship with a skull-shaped prow.

"The _Jolly Rodger_!" she whispered, clutching Tony's hand. There was a shout down the wharf as people began rushing inside. "I can't believe it's the _Jolly Rodger_!" She muttered in disbelief. Teddy trembled, gripping her hand tightly.

"Nattie, I want to go home!" He pleaded. She turned to him.

"Teddy, I want you to run back home. I'll be right behind you." She said, her eyes never wavering from the _Jolly Roger_. He stared at her, and then ran towards the tavern. Natalie, on the other hand, ran towards the nearest ship, jumping over various dockside paraphernalia and climbing as far as she could go up the mainmast. The_ Jolly Roger _was a magnificent ship, everything she could have dreamed of. _Ah, I can die happy knowing I saw this. _She thought. The deckwas swarming with pirates scurrying around like frightened rats._ What are they so frightened of? S_he thought to herself just as the familiar figure of Captain Hook stepped onto the deck. She gasped as he looked up to meet her eyes with his blue chips of ice. He was only a few inches tall from where she was at, but a shudder of fear ran through her. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? She felt the urge to run. Quickly, she slid down and sprinted back to the tavern, his gaze seeming to burn a hole in her back.


End file.
